I'm second! Pulling a skier

[gregtobin]

I just bought my first boat - a 18 ft bowrider with a merc 115hp inline 6 (1974). While I was getting the boat fixed up enough to use, I found some inexpensive skis and a kneeboard. My sons (16 and 20) had a great time on the kneeboard and I'm hoping that my tuning will help the motor go faster and they'll have more fun next week.

I attached the tow rope to the transom hooks for both kneeboard and skiing. This is a pretty old boat ('79), but I'd like to put together some kind of ski tower to make it easier to lift them out a bit. The taller the tower, the more complicated and expensive. Would a tower that's just an extra 3-4 feet higher than the current attachments (about 18 inches above the water line) make enough difference to be worth while or should I do something in the 6-foot range?

Thanks!

 

[deejaycee_2000]

Re: I'm second! Pulling a skier

It does make a big difference the higher the ski-pole, with an inline 6 you will have to have quite a high pole to clear the motor, the pole also makes getting the rope back into the boat and getting the rope out much easier .... on the iboats marine store there is a couple op ski towers you can have a look at .....

 

[aerwin]

Re: I'm second! Pulling a skier

the higher the better, but thats all I have right now too is the hooks on the back of the boat, I am planning on building a tower and figuring about 6 feet high.

 

[paulie0735]

Re: I'm second! Pulling a skier

wooo, a little caution here. Building towers on boats that were never designed for them is not a job for the average boat owner. People learned to ski on hooks for the best part of 50 years before a tower was even thought of. Serious slalom skiing with a rope mounted to a tower fitted to a boat that was not designed for it is a big no-no! It puts significant strain on the mountings not to mention the way it pulls the boat around. Wake boarding and knee boards are a different thing as they are traveling much slower and do not turn as hard or excelerate across the wake at anywhere near the same speed as a slalom ski. At this early stage a tower will just cause more problems than its worth. Check also with your insurance company, they may have a issue with you fitting one. Your should have no problem fitting a pole through the outboard well thats high enough to clear the top of the motor.

 

[mike176]

Re: I'm second! Pulling a skier

when i learned to ski my grandfather had a 15ft glastron tri-hul with an 115 merc i6. that old merc had power to spare. I really miss that boat the sad thing is my uncle got the boat and traded it for a truck. We always pulled off the stern cleats and i never had a problem gramps and dad would ski off it that way too.